HUTCHMED

Another kind of leverage changed hands earlier in the month in oncology.

HutchMed, which is a Chinese pharmaceutical company, licensed a cancer drug called HMPLA-830 to GSK for $110 million up front, with milestones that could take the total to $1.295 billion, plus royalties.

GSK gets worldwide rights excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

HutchMed keeps those.

The molecule itself is genuinely novel.

It's what's called an antibody-targeted therapy conjugate, where an inhibitor of small molecule signals gets bolted onto an antibody that seeks out its corresponding receptor.

Lilly agreed to buy Miridu Biosciences for just under $2.9 billion if every milestone pays out, going after the autoantibodies behind Graves' disease.

Roche licensed a preclinical tri-specific from Simsir Zyming for $75 million up front, and GSK paid HutchMed $110 million for a molecule that has never been dosed outside China.

Four of the five originated in Asia.

Two more.

Novartis took options on Alteagen's subcutaneous platform out of Dagen, worth up to €3.223 billion.

And Gann & Lee licensed a GLP-1 to Menorini for €62 million up front.

HutchMed jumped 16% in London on that up front.

GSK barely moved.

We've talked about multi-baggers a couple of times.

This was a proper multi-bagger, a firm called Hutchmed China.

It's a biotech, and it absolutely flew from listing up to about 2022.

Got to about six quid.

This represents an evolution in HIV treatment, promising improved adherence and patient outcomes.

In China, Hutchmed's Adald, Phanregratinib, has been approved by the NMPA for treating FGFR2 fusion intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma after successful Phase II trials.

Phanregratinib exemplifies precision medicine's approach by targeting specific genetic alterations driving cancer progression, offering new hope for patients with this challenging condition.

Cytokinetics has reported promising Phase III results for mycorrhizal, a fecam-10, in non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.